Barefoot for Beauty and Health

Tai Chi done barefoot to encourage healing energy flow from earth to body.

Hi all! Following my post on smoothing away calluses, someone mentioned to me that her favourite way of doing so was walking barefoot on the beach. Agreed! I love going for long, barefoot walks on the beach whenever I get a chance -- it's great exercise for feet and legs, and feels amazing. And apparently, when we do this, we are getting a lot more than just a foot-polish. 

According to Clint Ober, author of Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?, walking barefoot on natural ground surfaces allows us to achieve a grounding effect through the transfer of the earth's free electrons. Apparently, scientific studies have shown that when we are barefoot on the earth (as many would claim we were always intended to be), we gain potent health benefits, including a significant reduction in bodily inflammation. (And as we know, inflammation is a root cause of aging and disease, so it's important to do everything we can to minimize this!)

The idea is to walk in a park or on the beach or somewhere else barefoot-friendly for about an hour and 20 minutes. Research has apparently showed that after this amount of time, people's blood profiles changed and improved. According to an interview on this topic, Lance Armstrong incorporated this technology in his Tour de France training. 

I haven't read this book and don't know a lot about its theory. But I am familiar with the idea of "grounding" and the transfer of energy from earth to body from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective. This concept plays an important role in Qi Gong and Tai Chi, both traditional methods of healing energy-work (that's why you'll see barefoot Tai Chi practitioners in the park!) It's interesting that science has now "discovered" a form of healing power employed in traditional medicine for thousands of years! :)

So -- now's the perfect time of year to kick off those shoes, feel the freedom of going barefoot, and enjoy a regenerating and beautifying walk or run! Have fun, everyone! 

Comments

[JD]

What an interesting new take on an ancient theme. Will have to check out that book.

[BeautyCosmopolite]

Hi JD - yes, thinking the same thing! :)

[V]

What is your take on maintaining a very non blood sugar spiking diet. What do you recommend one should be getting daily into their diet: the essentials. Do you recommend, for general health, taking a multivitamin an essential? When your 18-19?

This is what I'm taking right now: http://www.seven-seas.com/products/seven-seas/multivitamins-plus-vegetarian-and-vegan-minerals

Also, I sent you an email recently in reply to what you said

[BeautyCosmopolite]

Hi V - a non-blood-sugar-spiking diet can be different for everyone, because what can "spike" one person might not spike another -- it depends on overall metabolic health. (When I work with people, we focus on a very individualized approach). But generally speaking, everyone can greatly benefit from avoiding refined/processed/packaged foods, refined grain products, sugar and sugary-foods, anything with high-fructose-corn-syrup as an ingredient...
Eating a variety of delicious, whole, non-denatured foods as close to their natural state as possible is a great way to go! Focus on plenty of vegetables, especially dark green, plus high-quality proteins and good fats (like avocados, etc.).
A multivitamin can be helpful insurance, but should never be considered a "replacement" for a healthy diet which is key. I'm not familiar with the brand you mention. I always prefer food-based vitamins as opposed to synthetic ones. If you're unsure about the multivitamin you are taking, you can contact the company and ask them if they use synthetic vitamins and minerals in their formulation. Hope that helps!

[V]

What do you consider, from you research, high-quality proteins? Also a general question: What should one look for in a high-grade olive oil for daily cooking? And how much of it should one get of it daily?

Also I read a great book recently called 'Done't lose your mind, lose your weight' (If you ever get a chance to look at it do share your thoughts.. I think it's very well rounded and a thorough approach which focuses on simplicity and planing ones day to day food out in advance so you never fall into the trap of 'fast food' or packaged foods at the last minute.) and it mentions pre and post workout meals that should have a balance of carbs and protein, I'm interested to hear what you do and your take on this? And it also talks about, when your trying to lose weight, how fruit (and veg.) have a fattening effect on the body due to fructose and that the best time to consume fruit is after a workout or in the morning... but I was confused because shouldn't one be taking lots of veg. and fruit throughout the day and surely you can't get your day's dose in 2 portions...?

xo

[V]

Also looking fwd to your email..

[BeautyCosmopolite]

Hi V - high quality proteins would include things like wild fish (as opposed to farmed), grass-fed meats (as opposed to grain-fed, industrially-raised), organic dairy (rather than conventional), organic, free-range eggs, etc.
I haven't read the book you refered to, so I don't know what kind of balance of carbs and proteins they are talking about. But the idea of food-planning to avoid fast-food/packaged food is a good one.
Regarding fructose, again, because I haven't read the book, I can't comment on what they are saying about fruits and vegetables and when to eat them. However, it is great that you are researching information on fructose! It's true that too much fructose from any source, including fruit, can be harmful to metabolism and have a "fattening effect"! This is too big a topic to get into here, but I will look at doing a post on this at some point. But very generally speaking, I prefer to focus on vegetables over fruit, because a lot of fruit can be very high in sugar/fructose and cause blood-sugar-spiking. Hope that helps for now! :)